Appeal No. 96-0640
Application 08/127,178
fillers to achieve” (Ans., p. 8). We are struck by the dearth
of evidence to which the examiner points in support of his
holding that mass-loaded coatings with a ratio of dense
granular weighting material to adhesive matrix of
approximately 3:1 by mass and processes for reducing the
resonant frequency of a rigid element by applying said
coatings, reasonably would have been obviousness to a person
having ordinary skill in the art in view Metzger’s teaching
and applicant’s purported admission.
We find that Metzger reasonably would have taught persons
having ordinary skill in the art that soundproofing structures
may take the form of soundproof panels, sheets, films, putties
and spray coatings which comprise at least two parts by volume
of hollow microspheres, one part per volume of an adhesive
binder, and optional fillers selected from “powdered lead or
aluminum and other fillers which have a high density”
(Metzger, col. 4, l. 63-65). See also Metzger, col. 3, l. 37-
45; col. 4, l. 62-65; and col. 5, l. 58, to col. 6, l. 42.
However, we find no objective evidence in Metzger which would
have led persons having ordinary skill in the art reasonably
to expect that soundproof panels, sheets, films, putties or
spray coatings comprising a dense granular weighting material
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